Today we have a general update regarding some features, changes, and status.

HTTPS Update

Starting today, when a new board is registered the link provided will be the HTTPS URL. This means that when you register a new board, it will transfer you to https://forumname.jcink.net rather than http://forumname.jcink.net

You are not forced to use HTTPS for your forum; as the http link will work; however, it is advised that if you haven't worked on getting your forum HTTPS-ready you should plan to do so this year. We want everyone to have a smooth and easy transition to HTTPS in due time. That being said, HTTP will always be available for as long as possible. We recently added a new feature that will seamlessly redirect everyone on your board to the https mode; including old posted links in topics.

It has been almost a year since we implemented HTTPS for *.jcink.net, and the reasons for this are provided here: What is HTTPS?. This page also contains resources and information to help you regarding the transition.

Messenger Fields

By default, boards include fields for messenger applications, including: GTalk, AIM, Yahoo, MSN, and Skype. Beginning this year, AIM finally closed their doors, along with MSN the previous years. Rather than force specific messengers into profiles on all communities, we will be removing these soon.

We recommend communities utilizing these fields to migrate any messengers that are still online such as skype and yahoo messenger to a custom profile field. The custom profile field system contains everything you need to add a number of social media and messengers (ex: discord, facebook) if you feel your community needs it. (As a side note: we are also looking into discord web hooks).

Spam & the Captcha

Scattered reports to us regarding spam in guest forums have been made. Last year we implemented Google's reCaptcha v2 and saw great success in spam filtering. Unfortunately, this year, recAPTCHA v2 was 'cracked' via the audio function, but it is still difficult for many spammers to pull off. In response to this we have increased keyword filtering, blocked aggressive known guest-spam IP ranges, and will continue to monitor the situation.

Inactive Forums

We've seen so many requests in the last year or two from those who want to use names of old forums that have been inactive for 2 or 3 years, especially ones with little to no content that are just sitting on a "good" name!

We will still be taking these requests by email; however toward the end of the year we will likely do a larger inactivity clearance to free names and resources on our systems. This past holiday season we saw a lot of spammers continue to hit boards like this as well despite the fact that they cannot be posted to. So we are thinking about mitigations options for the coming year to make the service even less attractive to those who spam while at the same time freeing names for those who'd like to use them. Remember: To mark any board as active, simply login to it via an Admin or Mod account. You do not actually need an 'active' community. More details on this of course will be provided when the time comes; we have done these types of clearances in the past on a micro and larger level as well.

Premium

We want to thank everyone who has subscribed to premium in the last few years. To celebrate that thanks, we always increase benefits each year and this year will be no different. Look for those increases sometime in the spring.

Status Page

Many users may not be aware but we recently updated our status page, which checks at 5 minute intervals for up-time. Our server status can always be found here: https://status.jcink.com/ and updates are provided on twitter. Our status site is graciously hosted by uptimerobot and is not operated by us.

Here's to a great 2018! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.